61


Its Memorial Day weekend.  Today is rainy (as it has been for the past several days...or forever in my book) and chilly (which I am also tired of.)  Sixty one years ago this date was NOT the start of Memorial Day weekend.  Sixty one years ago, Memorial Day was always on the 30th of May, which would have been a week later.  (It was in 1971 that the date was changed to the last Monday in May.)  I also know that 61 years ago this day was not rainy or chilly, but quite warm.  How do I know this?  It's because I was around (I wasn't) and it's not because I Googled it (although I could have), I know because 61 years ago today, my parents got married.

I've written about my parent's anniversary before (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/50-years.html  and https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2024/05/60.html), why am I writing about it again?  I don't know.  Maybe it's because it's the first year that I'm not in NJ for the weekend.  I frequently (but not always) think of the NJ shore when Memorial Day rolls around.  There is no longer a NJ shore for me.  That's partially sad (because my mother loved the NJ shore) and partially a relief. (Because once again I hear that this year hurricane season is going to be more active than usual...of course they said that last year and there were no major hurricanes that hit the barrier island.  Maybe you have me to thank for that?)

In any event, I'm thinking of my parents and the day they married.  Since we have moved, I have transported almost all photos to a closet in my home office.  (Which believe it or not, is a much better place than where I DID have them in NJ...a bin in the basement!)  I went to pull out their wedding album today.  I couldn't find it, but that's because I'm too short.  Once I told my husband that the album was missing and I couldn't remember if it had been lost in Super Storm Sandy, he went to the closet and located it right away.  

The album is does not have many photos.  They are all large and professional.  I wish there were more.  (I am grateful that even though my wedding was before the advent of digital cameras, that I didn't have a "formal" album created and instead just have tons of photos which I somewhat assembled into an album.)  There are no candid shots.  There are very few of the guests.  And of the guest shots that I do see, I really don't know who anyone was.  (Other than family members.)  


I wonder how many people who attended that wedding are still alive.  I do know that my mother's maid of honor, a now a retired cardiologist, is still alive.   (She was supposedly writing a memoir, which I would love to read, but have been unable to find.)  Everyone else?  Well, in one of the few church photos (because photos were not allowed in church), I can see a few children (or at least the back of their heads).  I wonder who they were.  I know that my father's brother was stationed overseas (I believe in Germany) and that his sister was studying in Spain, so they were not there.  I know that my paternal grandmother's brother, Ed was in attendance (but there are no photos of him), were her other siblings there as well?  Was my maternal grandfather's sister there?  My maternal grandmother's brother and his wife were there (and are actually in a photo), but their sons were not.  (Was the eldest in Australia already?  Was the youngest already working overseas?)

I wonder what their first dance was.  (Note to my son, if he's interested:  your father and I had our first dance to "Love Will Keep Us Alive" by the Eagles.  I know you are probably surprised that it's not a Beatles song, but it's not.)  I know there was a band (we had a dj); what did they play?

What did they eat?  (I can barely remember what we ate!  Actually we didn't really eat until the next day!)  Where did the lovely cake come from?  (Despite many people's "recollections" I had no wedding cake.)  What flavor was it?

Where did my mom get her dress?  (I got mine at a shop in Bloomfield, NJ that still exists to my amazement.)  Why did she choose what she did? 

So many questions that I don't have answers for.  But I am thinking about them today and wondering...

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad.  Your daughter, son-in-law and grandson miss you both so much, not just on this day, but every day.

 


Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM

    So often I think how I should have asked my parents many questions. I don’t know anything about my parents wedding. There probably was no special dress. My mom was going to normal school in WA. And my dad graduated from Washington State. He left for NJ and got settled before my mom joined him. I have most of the pictures- some I’ve never looked at. Lot of questions I probably will never know the answers. I have a cousin that might know something.

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